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Consumer Centric Retail Through Curation

In this module, Ady explores two avenues of retail curation: products and experiences. Best described by Barry Schwartz's Paradox of Choice, this module will identify how brands like Nike are thriving when it comes to curating their product selection for consumers. Curating products is all about providing quality to your consumer, and not overwhelming them with choices. Ultimately, what successful retailers need to consider is how they can give consumers the very best product - not 10 good products.

On the other side of retail curation, brands also need to consider how they can curate an experience - both online and offline. Consumers today need more than just an Instagram-friendly wall to lure them into a retail store. Ady will help to identify what consumers are looking for when it comes to a shopping experience and how brands can truly deliver this.

Trend - As the need for up-leveled in-store experiences continues to rise, retailers are looking outside their typical industries for inspiration. More specifically, retailers are looking to the immersive theatre space to inspire their brick-and-mortar strategies.

Workshop Question - How can you create a more theatrical purchasing experience for your consumers?

Trend - Brands take on the role of teachers and mentors, catering to consumers who have a heightened desire to learn and extend their current knowledge. While maintaining Instagram-worthy interiors, retailers begin to incorporate new tools like in-store audiobooks, fact walls, and up-leveled workshops to enhance the consumer's path to purchase.

Workshop Question - How can you cater to the consumer desire for educational retail experiences that reach beyond social media?

Trend - Responding to today's tumultuous retail landscape, merchants serving urban areas across categories are opting for condensed stores with a hyper-local focus in design as well as a curated selection of products and services. This shift serves as a reflection of some consumers' heightened expectation that retailers will respond to their specific needs and preferences.

Workshop Question - How could your brand develop a highly curated retail experience for its customers?

Social urban spaces are transformed to bring elements of nature indoors

Trend - Responding to a lack of greenery within urban areas, architects are infusing communal hospitality spaces with outdoorsy design elements. Consumers' growing desire for green spaces within busy cities makes these greenhouse-themed activations a meeting point for those seeking to be closer to nature.

Workshop Question - How can you look to nature to make communal spaces within your organization more welcoming?

Trend - Brands within the cosmetic and skincare space are adopting artificially intelligent capabilities into their retail spaces in order to better personalize the experience of their customers. This shift speaks to the increasingly deliberate and customized nature of self-care.

Businesses focus on providing a multitude of products and services in one place

Implications - Brands are taking the one-stop-shop format to the next level by offering consumers easier ways to plan, access and complete all their necessary shopping needs in one go. Tapping in-store offerings as well as online apps, brands are realizing the importance of convenience when it comes to consumer experiences, and with that, are combining often different experiences to become one unique activity. From retail destinations that give you all your wedding necessities to branded apps that combine online loyalty programs with in-store functionalities, these examples not only offer convenience, but speaks to the growing desire for customized experiences among consumers.

Workshop Question - In what ways could your brand customize your product or service experience to be more convenient and aligned to their needs and rituals?

Grocers debut more curated versions of their stores to redefine their brand

Implications - Allowing shoppers to have a more streamlined and occasionally up-leveled experience, grocers are turning to smaller format stores to allow them to experiment with a new focus on specific products or consumers. This more focused approach not only provides a more convenient experience for the shopper, but more importantly allows companies in this space to experiment with their brand experience as well.

Workshop Question - Pick one specific demographic you already market to. What would it look like if you were to focus specifically on exactly what that consumer wants from your brand?

Implications - The incorporation of customized branded apps into the consumer’s in-person shopping journey is on the rise, with brands curating or elevating the brick-and-mortar experience by providing more information on the products in question, and by generally easing the shopping experience. This shift comes as consumers increasingly prioritize researching the products and services they’re looking to purchase.

Implications - As the fight against e-commerce continues to be a focus for brands, the pressure to create a worthwhile in-person experience increases. Supporting this focus on giving consumers a good reason to experience brands in person are experiential, branded cafes that exist either permanently in-store or act as a limited time pop-up experience. The outcome of this approach is to provide consumers with a sensorial experience as well as a chance to purchase tangible goods.

Workshop Question - If your brand were to create a consumer experience representative of itself, what would that look like?

Implications - The older half of Generation Z -- dubbed 'Z-Tribe' through Trend Hunter's research -- has conflicting appreciations for both in-store shopping, and streamlined digital experiences. Omnichannel consolidates these needs. Some retail brands are taking this a step further by explicitly targeting this youth generation through store design, experience, and integration of their social media habits.

Workshop Question - What demographic represents your biggest opportunity, and how can you more explicitly target them?

Implications - Businesses are using their physical and digital retail spaces to empower small entrepreneurs, offering various platforms for them to both create and sell their products and services. Such interactive spaces benefit small business owners for their ability to foster collaboration, bringing down the costs associated with marketing and retail space ownership.

Workshop Question - How could your brand foster collaboration with or between small businesses?